Too Many Chocos
Too Many Chocos * Season #: 7 * Season Ep#: 20 * Overall Ep#: 126 Plot Overwhelmed with having to choose just one sibling to spend time with, Choco Cream uses a magic mirror to clone himself, with results that turn out chaotic. Episode (Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of an apple resting on an outdoor mushroom tabletop during the day. Wisps of magic envelop the fruit and slowly float it off the surface, and it begins to stretch and elongate as if made of rubber. After several seconds of this decidedly un-apple-like behavior, the spell dissipates and the fruit settles back onto the table. Cut to a longer shot of the area, which is outside the Jupiter Town restaurant; Lollipop Pops glares daggers at the apple, while Beeping Bot stands behind her. Other customers are enjoying their own food and paying no mind.) * [Beeping Bot] "Try again, Lolly. You can do it!" (She wipes her forehead.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Phew! This spell’s a toughie, but I feel lucky this time." (Horn lights.) "One..." (Aim it at the apple.) "...two..." (Choco Cream rockets past at ludicrous speed, nailing her broadside and plowing her away.) * [Choco Cream] "HI!!" (Lollipop's spell ricochets crazily off an overhang and the ground, then scores a direct hit on a hapless bird perched in a tree. Nothing is left except a few drifting feathers. Down below, the scatter-brained redhead has swept her target up in a bone-mashing hug, which lasts some seconds before Lollipop throws him off.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Choco, why’d you do that?!" * [Choco Cream] "Because hugs are fun-errific…" (wrapping arms around himself several times) "…especially when you throw one around a friend." (Untwist at high speed.) "Whatcha doin’?" * [Lollipop Pops] (annoyed, passing him and Beeping) "Trying to turn that apple into an orange." (Here comes said orange—propelled by the bird’s wings.) * [Beeping Bot] "But you kinda threw her aim off." (It flies over to Choco.) * [Choco Cream] (jumping) "Whee! An orange-birdie! Do me next, Lollipop! Do me, do me!" (His last bound carries him back so that he collides with the arriving Cinnamon Buns, who has donned a hooded dark gray cloak.) * [Choco Cream] "Ohhh! Cinnamon, want to see Lolly turn me into an orange?" (singsong, jumping in place) "It’s gonna be fun-a-fun-fun!" * [Cinnamon Buns] (throwing off cloak) "As fun as creating this haute couture ensemble that I just finished making? Delightful, non?" (Said ensemble she is referring to her dress.) * [Choco Cream] "This is terrible!" * [Cinnamon Buns] "I admit it’s perhaps not my finest work, but I—" (Choco leans in close.) * [Choco Cream] "You had total awesome amazing day and I missed out on it?" (He backs off with a squeaky little moan and crosses to Lollipop and Beeping.) * [Choco Cream] "Wait! What if there’s more awesome amazing fun with friends happening somewhere in Jupiter Town right now that I’m missing out on too?" (Now having worked himself up to a full-scale tizzy, he bails out in a flash of brown and orange.) * [Beeping Bot] (to Cinnamon) "We weren’t gonna turn him into an orange! I swear!" (Wipe to Vanilla Cake, standing amid a small patch of fog that blankets a hilltop in the town orchard. He gives it a few lashes with his hands, but is interrupted by the split-second arrival of Choco.) * [Choco Cream] "Hey, Vanilla Cake, whatcha doin’?" * [Vanilla Cake] "This punk cloud got so heavy it’s making fog. Figure I’ll thin this bad boy out so it floats back up." * [Choco Cream] (jumping/floating in place) "Ooh, fun!" (racing around him) "Whee!" (He completes several laps at insanely high speed, causing the cloud to float up and away and leaving the brown-haired boy spinning in place.) * [Choco Cream] "Gotta go!" (Off he goes like a shot, even before Vanilla's eyes have stopped whirling in their sockets.) * [Vanilla Cake] (bewildered) "Thanks, Choco?" (Wipe to Blueberry Jam as he walks along a road, pulling a cart whose freight consists of Cranberry Pup and quite a few apples. Choco hops up to keep pace.) * [Choco Cream] "Hey, Bluey! That looks like fun. Can I join you?" (He jumps in and balances on the edges.) "Whee! Next time I’ll pull you!" (Away he goes; Blueberry stops the cart, and two pairs of puzzled eyes stare after his full-throttle departure. Wipe to Sugar Pie and a rabbit under a tree in the park outside Jupiter Town. They are having a cup of tea.) * [Choco Cream] (from o.s.) "Sugar Pie!" (Surprise; zoom out to frame him nearby, out of breath.) "There…you…are!…Doing…anything…fun?" (Big expectant grin.) * [Sugar Pie] "Not really." * [Choco Cream] "Oh, good…fun…is hard!" (He topples over on his back, all four limbs sticking straight into the air, as Sugar winces slightly. Fade to black.) ---------- (Opening shot: fade in to a butterfly-filled patch of sky among the trees in the park. Tilt down to ground level, where a dense cloud of them is fluttering around some piece of furniture. Only its legs and part of its base can be seen for the moment, but Choco's feet also poke out from one end of the mass. Sugar flies into view and touches down alongside this odd assemblage.) * [Sugar Pie] "Feeling better, Choco?" (The butterflies disperse to expose both Choco and the couch he is resting on. He is awake." * [Choco Cream] "Abso-tutely-lutely! Thanks for letting me rest in your butterfly grove while I get my Choco strength back." (One lights on his "nose"; cute to Sugar.) * [Sugar Pie] "What are friends for?" * [Choco Cream] (from o.s., grabbing her cheeks) "That’s just the thing!" (Pan slightly to frame both; Choco works Sugar's face around.) "I’ve got so many wonderful friends having fun in every last corner of Jupiter Town, I can’t figure out how to keep up with it all!" (He shoves Sugar away on the end of this and stands up on his feet.) "It’s driving me even more coco-loco than usual!" (Still on the couch, he emphasizes these last words by letting his eyes spin in their sockets and flopping over the couch’s back.) * [Sugar Pie] "I can promise to not do anything fun at all, if that would help." * [Choco Cream] "You are such a good friend and sister!" (Pan to frame Blueberry as he walks up.) * [Blueberry Jam] "There you are, Choco! I've been looking everywhere for you." * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Hey, Choco!" (Cut to him, descending from overhead to land by Sugar.) "Got something fun planned this afternoon, thought you might want to know about." * [Blueberry Jam] "Wow. I’m here for the same reason." (Zoom out to frame all four; Choco is now sitting down.) * [Choco Cream] "This is perfect! Everyone will now bring their fun to me." (zipping away, hopping along path) "Oh, this’ll solve everything!" (He stops, scattering butterflies.) "Why didn’t I think of that?" (Vanilla flies over to him.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Actually, what I meant is after I’m done whipping up today’s weather, I’ll be chilling by the lake catching some rays. Wanna hang?" (Close-up of Choco.) * [Choco Cream] "I am so there!" (rearing up) "Whee!" (On the start of the next line, pan to frame Blueberry and Sugar standing behind him.) * [Blueberry Jam] "And Mother Earthly and her kids are having a barn-raising this afternoon near the town's orchard." (Blue eyes pop for an instant, then a smile.) * [Choco Cream] "And I’m also so there!" (jumping in place) "Whee, whee!" * [Vanilla Cake] "But that’s when I’ll be at the swimming hole. Oh, well, doesn’t matter." (as Blueberry walks up on Choco's other side) "Whichever one you choose is okay with me." * [Blueberry Jam] "Me too." (The redhead in brown, whose eyes have flicked back and forth between them, sucks in a shaky gasp as the camera zooms in to an extreme close-up.) * [Choco Cream] "Choose?" (Dissolve to Lollipop and Beeping outside the restaurant; the target apple is still on its table.) * [Lollipop Pops] "One…" (Aim horn at it.) "...two..." (She gets a spell started, only to be thrown off when Choco leaps into view and bounces off her head. The beam caroms off a tree branch and strikes a frog sitting contentedly on a lily pad in the stream bordering Jupiter Town. When the view clears, the amphibian has become an orange resting on a frog’s four limbs; it lets off a loud ribbit from a mouth that opens temporarily on the rind, then hops into the water. Back on dry land, the irked leader has her table and apple upset when Choco flashes by.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Choco!" (Cut to the crazy redhead in full flight, a stopwatch hanging around his wrist. He skids to a stop, his feet cutting a furrow in the ground so deep that he disappears completely into it, and puts his head back up to check the watch. Cut to his perspective of it, then tilt up to frame the approaching humanoid and toy robot during the next line.) * [Lollipop Pops] "What in the name of the gas giants are you doing now?" (Back to Choco, now up and hopping to them.) * [Choco Cream] "Timing myself galloping back and forth between the swimming hole and the town orchard." (hopping around them) "I’m trying to cut down my time so if Vanilla Cake dives off the swing, I can get to the orchard to help with the barn-raising—" (Close-up; stop.) "—and then be back in time to see Vanilla Cake hit the water after doing a double flip!" (He checks his stopwatch and gasps.) * [Choco Cream] "If I can cut my time by only twenty minutes, I’m good." (Zoom out to frame Lollipop.) * [Lollipop Pops] (laughing) "Oh, Choco." (walking away) "I’m afraid no matter how hard you try…" (magically righting table and apple) "…the only way to pull something like that off is if there’s more of you to go around." (The redheaded klutz stares straight ahead, his mind either racing or totally blown, and his head slowly cocks to his left in little jerks as if it were a clock’s second hand. The ticking of a clock accompanies this motion until he has completed a quarter-turn; at this point, it snaps back and the camera zooms in to an extreme close-up, to the sound of an alarm bell. His vibrating pupils give way to an ear-to-ear grin.) * [Choco Cream] "That's it, Lolly!" (He zips over to Lollipop, knocking her, the table, and the apple down.) "The legend of the Mirror Pool!" (He hurries away.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Legend of the who-what, now?" (She stands up.) "Choco!" (to herself) "I’m familiar with loads of legends, and I never heard of—" * [Beeping Bot] "Does this mean practice is over?" * [Lollipop Pops] (cheerfully) "Of course not. Back to work." (The toy robot grimaces mightily. Dissolve to Choco dashing through Pine Woods, into a patch of steadily thickening mist and tangled vines. He has disposed of his stopwatch.) * [Choco Cream] "Seems like hardly anyone's been here in ages. I hope I’m remembering the rhymes right from daddy's story. Uh...Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find…uh...a pond beyond the most twisted of vines." (He stops as his last words echo in the stillness, throwing him into a skittish panic.) * [Choco Cream] (looking around) "What was that? Oh! I heard a voice!" (He calms down.) "Oh." (Smile; move on.) "It was me." (The undergrowth has rather less of a sense of humor; now he has to bull his way through it, seen in profile close-up.) * [Choco Cream] "Ow! Ouch!" (Grunt.) "Stop scratching me up, you brambles!" (legs flailing, dropping suddenly o.s.) "Whooooaaaa!" (A tilt down to ground level reveals the hole he has just fallen into. Cut to below the earth’s surface and pan quickly to follow the humanoid in brown as he rattles his way through a long, twisting tunnel, finally emerging down a natural ramp into a high-ceilinged cavern. He lands flat on his front side, peeling his face off the ground to show it temporarily squashed flat, and finds a small pool directly in front of him. Not a single bubble or ripple disturbs the water’s surface. Huge gasp; zoom out to a long shot.) * [Choco Cream] (echoing) "The Mirror Pool!…Oh, and there’s that voice again!" (Close-up; he runs ahead and clicks his tongue.) "Ah, Choco, you have got to stop talking to yourself." (Stop.) "Starting…now!" (He moves off again, the camera cutting to his perspective of the water’s edge as he reaches it and peeks over to see his reflection.) * [Choco Cream] "And into his own reflection he stared...uh...Yearning for one whose reflection he shared." (Cut to him, in profile.) "And solemnly sweared not to be scared…" (Now he enters the Mirror Pool, immersing himself wholly as the camera rotates 180 degrees so that he appears to climb out from the opposite side.) * [Choco Cream] "…At the prospect of being doubly fared!" (Zoom out slightly. Standing right in front of him is an identical, rather puzzled Choco Cream.) * [Water Choco] (jumping up) "Woah-ho!" * [Land Choco] "Wow, the legend is true! It really worked!" (The question of which is which quickly resolves itself when Water Choco zips away saying, “Fun! Fun! Fun!” over and over. Land Choco resumes his one-humanoid deliberation, marking himself as the original.) * [Choco Cream] "Okay, wait. I promised not to talk to myself anymore. I should say something to him." (Choco Clone 1 hops past.) "Or would that still be talking to myself?" (to him) "Excuse me…me? Can I have a word with you…uh, I mean, me? Listen, I can see you’re having lots of fun, but—" (Zoom out; Choco Clone 1 stands on a high ledge.) * [Choco Clone 1] (excitedly) "Fun? Did somebody say “fun”? Where?" * [Choco Cream] "I did, over here." (Choco Clone 1 sprints down to him.) "I thought someone said something about fun! Where is it?" (darting around cavern) "Over here? Over here? I don’t see it! Where is it, where is it?" * [Choco Cream] "Oh, calm yourself, Choco." (Choco Clone 1 races over, jittering.) "There’s loads of fun to be had in Jupiter Town with my friends." (They head up the ramp --- the original walking, the clone hopping.) "Go on over back to Jupiter Town with me and I’ll tell you all about ’em." (Dissolve to the edge of the Pine Woods as the two Chocos exit to clear meadowland.) * [Choco Cream] "And then there’s Cinnamon Buns. She’s the one with all the fancy clothes and ribbons and stuff." (as Choco Clone 1 looks around) "I’m thinking she can make us all matching T-shirts that say 'Team Choco' and—" * [Choco Clone 1] "Is this Jupiter Town? Where’s the fun? Where’s the fun?" (Both stop; he keeps hopping.) * [Choco Cream] "Uh, well, let’s see. Blueberry's helping out with the barn-raising at—" (His duplicate does not stick around to hear any more, instead barreling away.) * [Choco Cream] (calling after him, pointing opposite direction) "It’s that-a-way!" (The orange and brown blur blasts back past him...) * [Choco Cream] "Wait! Come back!" (...then returns to its stationary bounce.) "Don’t forget to meet me back here to tell me everything about everything, like I was there myself, because I’m you, and…and you’re me, and…oh my gosh!" (jumping up, floating briefly in air) "This is the greatest plan ever!" (Big squeaky grin.) "Now off to double my fun!" (They clear out in opposite directions. Dissolve to a long shot of Vanilla relaxing on a beach chair under an umbrella, at the edge of a lake under the bright sun. He has his favorite black sunglasses propped on his forehead and is doing a bit of reading; in close-up, the book is revealed to be one from the Tornado Dash series. He closes and puts it away with a yawn, bringing out a folding reflector to tuck under his chin. The shades settle down over his eyes in the process. Cut to Choco, going at full run and wearing a diving mask and snorkel, plus in his brown swimming trunks.) * [Choco Cream] (leaping high at lake edge) "Let’s rock this pool, everyone!" (Gravity stops short at the peak of his leap, allowing him to pull out a duck inner tube, blow it up, and get it around his midsection.) * [Choco Cream] (finally descending) "Whee!" (He splashes in and Vanilla lowers his sunglasses for a peek, just before the redheaded klutz surfaces again.) * [Choco Cream] "Coming in, Vanilli?" (splashing a bit) "The water’s great! It’s totally wet and everything!" * [Vanilla Cake] (as Choco leaves the water) "I don’t know. Cloud-busting was tougher work than usual today." (dropping reflector, stretching) "I’m kind of exhausted." (The nap he intends to take is abruptly cut off by Choco's shaking himself dry.) * [Choco Cream] "That’s fine. You relax." (trotting behind him) "At least we’ll still be together." * [Vanilla Cake] "Glad you made it, Choco. I thought you maybe went to see Blueberry instead." (Cut to Choco on the end of this; now standing by a swing consisting of a rope knotted through a plank, he is in his normal clothing.) * [Choco Cream] "I did." * [Vanilla Cake] "Oh. The barn up yet?" (Choco pulls the swing back.) * [Choco Cream] "I have no idea." * [Vanilla Cake] "But I thought you said you just went to see Blueberry." * [Choco Cream] "Actually, I’m probably still on my way there now." (He jumps on the swing and lets fly.) "Whee!" (Letting go, he drops into the water with a huge splash and does not notice the thoroughly puzzled brown-haired boy scratching his head in the beach chair. Dissolve to a close-up of a bush as Sugar leans into view to pick a berry. She drops it into a basket held by Cranberry Pup; in the background, a Choco hops cheerfully over a hill.) * [Sugar Pie] "Oh, Choco Cream!" (She hurries over; Choco stops.) "I’m so glad you wandered by. I know I promised not to have any fun today, but…oh, I couldn’t help myself." (With a smile that is equal parts sheepishness and joy, she flies to a bush and parts its foliage to expose a group of animals—including a bear—having laid out a picnic in the clearing just beyond. As she continues, zoom in on the hole she has opened.) * [Sugar Pie] "All of my critter friends wanted a picnic—" (now o.s.; the bear growls amiably.) "—and I couldn’t disappoint them." (On the end of this, cut to the Choco and the enthusiastic grin that spreads across his face.) * [Sugar Pie] (flying to animals, settling among them) "Come join us. We have plenty of hay juice and marmalade to go around—don’t we, critters?" (General assent from small and large alike; a mouse even scampers over and offers the pink pony a piece of cheese, which she eagerly scarfs down. Her words quickly mark her as Choco Clone 1.) * [Choco Clone 1] "Wait! But that sounds super-fun! Oh, but Blackberry Jelly sounds super-fun too!" (Flustered moan and hand wave.) "And…and…I can’t do one without missing out on the other!" * [Sugar Pie] (puzzled) "Who's Blackberry Jelly?" (The clone gets in her face.) * [Choco Clone 1] "Two fun things…at once…but which…which?" (Back off; close-up.) "Ooh, can’t decide…" (slow zoom in as he hyperventilates) "…trouble breathing…walls closing in!" (He make as if to shield his face from a grenade that is about to go off from three feet away.) * [Sugar Pie] (from o.s.) "Walls?" (Cut to frame her and the tableau.) "But we’re outside." (This is the last straw for the high-strung double, who lets off a scream, does several dozen laps around the picnic in a brown/orange blur, and races back the way he came.) * [Sugar Pie] "Goodness! Was it something I said?" (The bear gives her a noncommittal growl and shrug before the clone zips back.) * [Choco Clone 1] "YES!!" (Exit.) * [Sugar Pie] (to bear) "Huh?" (Snap to back.) ---------- (Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of Vanilla's sun reflector, which he is now holding again. Choco's reflection is visible in each of its three panels—the original, as revealed by his next line.) * [Choco Cream] "So you see, that’s how I’m able to have fun in two places at once." (Cocky grin.) (The reflector is lowered away from the camera, exposing the brown-haired sunbather behind it in his beach chair, sunglasses propped on forehead. He is clearly having a hard time buying this.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Duplicates of you, huh?" (Longer shot; they are at the lake. He gives a dismissive scoff.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Yeah. Sure, Choco." (yawning, putting reflector away) "But I was just gearing up to catch some Z’s, so, uh…" (He closes his eyes.) * [Choco Cream] "Gotcha!" (backing away) "I’ll have the rest of my fun really quietly." (One pupil and dark brown iris peek out from beneath a lowered lid to track his movement; meanwhile, the swing does its thing and propels Choco over the water for a cannonball dive.) * [Choco Cream] (softly) "Whee!" (With perhaps two feet to go before impact, he brings himself to a dead stop in midair and lowers himself in so gently that the water barely ripples. Vanilla is now fully awake and taking notice.) * [Vanilla Cake] "How’d you do that?" (Choco peeks out.) * [Choco Cream] "Just trying to show a little consideration for my sleepy brother." (Said brother has no immediate response to this before Choco Clone 1 pops his head up from a bush and waves.) * [Choco Cream] "Ooh, ooh, gotta run!" (wading out) "Looks like I’m trying to get my attention!" (On the end of this, cut to Vanilla, now really at a loss after seeing this development. An instant later, the swimming boy is now on the shore and dried off.) * [Choco Cream] (hopping away) "Excuse me." * [Choco Clone 1] (ditto) "And me." (Filling his eyes with that double vision, Vanilla allows himself a shocked grimace, then shrugs resignedly and rolls his eyes—but the sight leaves him unable to resume his nap. Wipe to the two Chocos in the park and zoom in: one hopping, one standing still. The hopper speaks first, identifying himself as the real Choco, and the other slowly works himself into a full panic during the following.) * [Choco Cream] "Ooh, ooh! Tell me all about it! Did they pull the walls of the barn up slooowww or fast?" * [Choco Clone 1] "I—" (Choco leans over to him.) * [Choco Cream] "Maybe slow to medium fast, somewhere in that range?" * [Choco Clone 1] "I—" * [Choco Cream] "Ooh, did you get ice cream? What kinds did they have? Banana brickle?" * [Choco Clone 1] "I didn’t make it! I was on my way there and then Sugar Belle—" * [Choco Cream] "Sugar Pie." * [Choco Clone 1] (nodding, sweating profusely) "—yeah, her—she offered something else fun for me to do." (tapping hands together) "A picnic, with cute little animals!" * [Choco Cream] "Aw, how could you say no to that?" * [Choco Clone 1] "That’s what I’m saying! Then I would’ve missed the super-fun thing with Blackberry Jam!" (He ends this line hunkered down on his front side, arms wrapped around head.) * [Choco Cream] "Blueberry Jam." (Choco Clone 1 flops onto his back.) * [Choco Clone 1] "SO I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING FUN AT ALL!!" (Choco bends down to stroke his face.) * [Choco Cream] "Aw, my poor, poor me." (patting his shoulder) "There, there." (He straightens up.) "Tell me what. We just need a couple more Choco Creams." (Cut to Choco Clone 1, starting to smile.) * [Choco Cream] (from o.s.) "Easy-peasy." * [Choco Clone 1] "Really?" (Cut to frame both.) * [Choco Cream] "Come on! Would I lie to me?" (He throws a big grin down at the supine copy and gets one in return. Dissolve to their reflections on the surface of the underground Mirror Pool.) * [Choco, Choco Clone 1] "And solemnly sweared not to be scared, At the prospect of being doubly paired." (As they lean closer to the water, the head and one arm each of two new Chocos rise from below it, hiding the corresponding parts of the images. The overall effect is to make the real and image portions of each pair join almost seamlessly at the waist, as if they were a single humanoid.) * [A Choco] (from o.s.) "Look! A double me!" (Cut to the edge; the two on the shore help the new arrivals out of the water.) * [Right Choco] "I think you mean a double-double me, plus another double-double me, which makes two double-double me’s, or a double-double-double me, if you will." (This verbal torrent marks him as the real Choco, and the previous speaker as Choco Clone 1.) * [Choco Clone 1] (jumping) "Whee!" * [Choco Clone 2] "Did somebody say “fun”?" (hopping away) "Where? Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!" (Chocos 1 and 3 follow suit in word and action, bounding all over the cavern and getting into assorted shenanigans. Swinging on a vine to slide down the stone ramp, eating the mushrooms that grow down here, “swimming” through the dirt, climbing up the walls, and so on.) * [Choco Cream] (crossing cavern) "Now Blueberry Jam, Vanilla Cake, and Sugar Pie are covered, plus one extra Choco Cream in case we get an extra invite from somebody else. Perfect!" (over shoulder) "Okay, let’s go!" (Zoom out slightly from her to bring the edge of the Mirror Pool into view—and two of the three Choco clones standing in view at it. The sight throws a real scare into him.) * [Choco Clones 1, 2, 3] "And solemnly sweared not to be scared, At the prospect of being doubly paired." * [Choco Cream] (under previous) "Hey, Chocos! Yoo-hoo!" (As they speak the rhyme, the camera shifts to their reflections and that of the real one jumping nervously behind them. Right on cue, three new Chocos come up and are helped onto dry land. Cut to Choco, walking out.) * [Choco Cream] "Okay, good enough. Choco Creams, move it out!" * [Chocos] (from o.s.) "...not to be scared, At the prospect of being doubly paired." (He freezes in his tracks and looks fearfully behind himself; pan back to the shore, where the three generations of himself have gathered.) * [Choco Cream] (from o.s.) "What in the name of cookies?!" (Cut to within the crowd, the camera aimed at him.) "Knock it off!" (That command has absolutely no effect on the reproductions, who start yelling, “Fun! Fun! Fun!” and bouncing all over the place.) * [Choco Cream] "To Jupiter Town, everyone!" (starting to walk off) "Follow me!" (He gets only a few steps away before the whole crowd falls silent; stopping, he lets off a weary groan and rolls his eyes.) * [Choco Cream] "Yes, it’s fun there." (They resume their shouting and hopping as he advances toward the camera to black out the screen. Fade in to the edge of Pine Woods, under a sky showing the yellow-orange of later afternoon. Choco leads the boisterous battalion out into the meadow a short way, then stops and whistles shrilly to gather them in; they gradually stop hopping as he speaks.) * [Choco Cream] "Okay, between the bunch of us, we should have every nook and cranny of fun in Jupiter Town covered at all times. An unprecedented and massive undertaking!" (He yanks a flip-chart on an easel into view.) "But first…" (Close-up.) "… a pop quiz on the names I taught you." (He flips the cover back, exposing a picture of…) * [Chocos] (from o.s.) "Blueberry Jam!" (Next flip shows...) "Sugar Pie!" (Cut to behind him, facing the group; he flips the page again.) * [Chocos] "Choco Cream!" * [Choco Cream] "Excellent!" (He pushes the chart away; close-up as he continues.) "Okay, let’s get on with this, folks. Fan out on three. One…" (His eyes bug out at the sound of a massed retreat and hooves galloping away; zoom out slightly to show that all the troops have gone bye-bye. Only a bit of dust and a falling leaf indicate that any other humanoid were ever here.) * [Choco Cream] "Eh, good enough." (He hops and sings his way o.s., capping it off with a happy “Whee!” Dissolve to Vanilla snoozing in his beach chair at the edge of the lake, shades down over his eyes. One Choco pops up alongside and waves a hand in front of his face, laughing as a second peeks over the chair back and uses a feather to tickle Vanilla's nonexistent nose. Both zip away before the dozing daredevil uncorks a sneeze that blows his sunglasses off; he rubs his eyes as the copies’ yells of “Fun!” are heard from all directions.) * [Vanilla Cake] "What the—?" (Cut to the mob, playing in and around the lake.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Wow!" (Zoom out to frame him.) "Choco Cream wasn’t kidding about the duplicates…" (Cut to them on the end of this line; one does the backstroke out of the water, digging a furrow through the sand with his back.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "…except now there’s triplicates…" (One jumps on another's back and is carried away.) "…and quadruplicates!" (Choco steps into view from behind a bush, a rubber raft balanced on his head.) * [Choco Cream] "Van is gonna love this! Oh, if I push him around on this floaty thing, it’ll be fun and relaxing!" (He gets an eyeful of the chaos at the lake.) * [Choco Cream] "Uh-oh." (At the shore, Vanilla has flipped his chair onto its side and is using it as a barricade, jabbing the folded-up umbrella at the brown crazies.) * [Vanilla Cake] "No more Chocos! I can’t take this!" (He opens the umbrella just enough to stuff himself inside it as one copy parades across the screen, banging a bass drum.) * [Choco Cream] "Gosh, uh…I wonder what fun they’re having raising the barn at the town orchard right now. Maybe I better go check." (He sprints away, the raft falling off his head. Wipe to the new barn in progress; the two end walls stand propped up by boards, with the support beam for the roof’s peak held in place between them. Next to the back wall is a tall, narrow frame topped by a conical roof, perhaps intended to become a storage silo. A pulley is suspended from the beam, and a rope runs over it to connect to the frame for one side wall, lying flat on the ground. Blueberry and Gastro can be seen hauling on the rope, along with Dandelion. The side wall begins to tilt upward to the sound of grunts and groans as the rope creaks, and a cut to the pulling side reveals four creatures on the job: Blueberry, Gastro, Red Unicorn, and Blue Alicorn. Each has one end of a short rope in his/her teeth --- in Blueberry's case, hands --- with the other ends knotted onto the main line. They are interrupted by a mass of hopping, “Fun”-yelling Chocos, one of whom lands on Dandelion's back and drives him flat, causing him to spit out his rope. With the police stallion down for the count, the other three find themselves being dragged forward by the frame’s weight.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Nooo!" (The other three rope-ends are yanked out of their pullers’ mouths/hands and the frame topples back onto the ground, followed by both end walls. The support beam hangs in midair for a second before it too crashes down. One gamboling Choco is exactly positioned so that when the front comes down, she ends up within the rectangle of its hayloft door and avoids being crushed. Zoom in on the four flummoxed workers as Choco hops into view alongside them.) * [Choco Cream] "Oh, phew! Looks like I haven’t missed a thing." * [Red Unicorn] (enraged) "I want to know right now where all you Chocos came from, so I can find out who’s responsible for RUINING OUR BARN-RAISING!!" (On the end of this, cut to the silo frame; several Chocos jump around on the timbers, causing the whole works to collapse in a cloud of dust. By the time the view clears, they have all vacated the premises. The humanoid in blue gives the redhead a hostile glare as he backs off.) * [Choco Cream] "Uh, you look pretty busy right now, so…" (laughing nervously) "…maybe we should talk a little later?" (He is gone in a flash; now three copies poke their disheveled, dust-smeared faced up from the wreckage.) * [Choco Clone 1] "Fun!" * [Choco Clone 2] "Fun, fun!" * [Choco Clone 3] "Fun, fun, fun!" (Each bounds away after his line, prompting Blueberry to pull his hat off and throw it down.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Get back here and clean up after yourselves this instant!" (During this line, the camera cuts to the escaping doppelgangers and rides along with them over the hills. It then cuts to couple of corrals filled with haystacks; they charge past, yelling “fun” all the while, and Choco peeks out from behind a stack after they have gone.) * [Choco Cream] "Oh, no! What have I done? What have I done?!? My poor sisters and brothers!" (Dissolve to the exterior of the library. Lollipop and Beeping stand outside the door, facing an angry crowd.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Okay, everyone. Please, calm down!" (Sugar and Cinnamon are in the front row; Cinnamon is out of her new dress with her hair styled normally.) * [Cinnamon Buns] "Calm down?!? I just had a Choco hurricane raging through the clothes shop!" * [Sugar Pie] "And they trashed our critter picnic!" (More expressions of the crowd’s collective ire.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Please, everyone!" (magically opening door) "Hang on while I try to figure something out!" (darting in) "Come on, Beeping." (He follows her and the door swings shut. Inside the reading room, nearly all of the furniture has been cleared away to make room for a pile of books and scrolls; Lollipop levitates a few more volumes off the shelves, then slides books back and forth on another one so she can check titles.) * [Lollipop Pops] "I’ve gotta try to remember the name of that legend he mentioned." (Beeping starts to reach into a low shelf, but starts in surprise instead. Cut to just behind him and zoom in toward the back, where a small cobweb-covered hatch is set into the wall. Nailed to it is a horseshoe; when he presses this, the hatch slides up to expose a compartment that holds a single book. It is stuck so firmly that when he finally pulls it loose, his yank carries both it and him to the center pile and he ends up wearing it on his head. Lollipop floats it clear and skims a few pages.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Aha! Here it is!" (reading) " 'The Legend of the Mirror Pond.' " (looking up) "It describes a spell I can use to send them back where they came from!" (Cut to Beeping, walking to the door.) * [Beeping Bot] "That’s perfect! Let’s go!" * [Lollipop Pops] (from o.s.) "But there’s a catch." (He freezes at the knob; zoom out to frame her reading some more.) "If I can’t figure out which one’s the real Choco, I might send him back by mistake!" * [Beeping Bot] "Well, we’ll just have to figure out who the real one is, then. Shouldn’t be too hard." (The humanoid just gives him a funny look. Cut to the exterior of the library; the two step out to face down the disgruntled crowd, which falls silent as she speaks.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Does anypony here know how we can tell the real Choco Cream from all the rest of them?" (General confused mutterings in the negative; meanwhile, a Choco hops behind them, waving to get Lollipop's attention.) * [Choco Clone 1] "Lollipop, I have to talk to you! I need your help!" * [Lollipop Pops] "Excuse me…" (A copy instantly zooms up next to Lollipop and lip-synchs the next line along with her, mimicking every facial expression and hoof gesture just to rub it in.) * [Lollipop Pops] "…whoever you are, but I’m not talking to any of you Chocos unless you’re the real Choco." * [Choco Clone 1] (pushes citizens aside) "Oh, but…but I am the real Choco!" (Pan slightly; Choco Clone 2 now glares at him.) * [Choco Clone 2] "No, you’re not! I’m the real Choco!" (Two more lean in close to Lollipop and zip away in turn.) * [Choco Clone 3] "I’m the real Choco!" * [Choco Clone 4] "No, I’m the real Choco!" (Cut to a bowler-hatted alien in the crowd. The headwear lifts clear of his hair as yet another Choco materializes underneath; he ends up sitting on his head, wearing the hat.) * [Choco Clone 5] "I’m the real Choco!" (A sixth appears on his head in the same way.) * [Choco Clone 6] "No, I’m the real Choco!" (On the end of this, cut to an elderly earth pony farmer in the crowd, whose two-tone pink mane and tail contrast markedly with his battleship-gray coat. A seventh Choco appears from behind his head, holding on to it, as yet another hops past behind the pair.) * [Choco Clone 7] "I’m the real Choco!" (Many, many more of them have now infiltrated the crowd, and cries of “I’m the real Choco!” are quickly drowned out by those of “Fun!” Up front, Blueberry makes his way to a suitably apprehensive Lollipop and Beeping; he has put his hat on.) * [Blueberry Jam] (as a Choco dances past) "How in the world are we supposed to tell which is the real Choco?" * [Lollipop Pops] "I have no idea." * [Choco Clone 8] "Me either. Oh…" (checking body parts on others) "…we’ve all got the same adorable eyes...we’ve all got the same adorable hair, and…we’ve all got the same adorable hands!" (really freaked out) "Which one of us is the real Choco?!?" (He drops to his front side.) "I haven’t the slightest clue! And if I can’t tell us apart, who can?" (He faints as the camera zooms out slowly and the brown cacophony reigns unchecked around him. Fade to black.) ---------- (Opening shot: fade in to two houses on opposite sides of a street. Sunflower, at his second-story window, waves to Sir Big Rings at his before the brown, “fun”-yelling stampede thunders past. Both ponies duck inside and slam their windows shut; elsewhere, Dr. Cauliflower risks a scared peek from his front door, and Lollipop glides alongside the madness with Beeping keeping pace.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Ugh, this is hopeless!" * [Beeping Bot] (pointing o.s.) "Maybe that one’s the real Choco." (Cut to the one in question, who is slumped glumly over a table at the restaurant, his head turned sideways and resting on it.) * [Lollipop Pops] (from o.s., dismissively) "Please. The real Choco Cream never sat that long in one place his whole life!" (Back to the pair.) * [Beeping Bot] (running towards table) "I’m gonna go ask." * [Lollipop Pops] "Of course he’s gonna say he's the real Choco. They all do!" (The table again; she continues o.s.) "You’re wasting your time!" (Beeping runs up.) * [Beeping Bot] "So let me guess—you’re the real Choco Cream." * [Table Choco] (as Lollipop joins them) "Heck if I know. Could be any one of us, if you ask me." (Beeping has no immediate response, and Lollipop's shrug indicates that she too has come up dry.) * [Table Choco] "And if I said I was the real Choco, you wouldn’t even believe me anyway. So just leave me alone." (Lifting his head clear, he trudges despondently away.) "I’ve got some important to do." * [Lollipop Pops] "Oh, Beeping, how are we gonna do this? I can’t risk sending the real Choco back into the Pond!" (Both walk off.) * [Beeping Bot] "I miss the real Choco." (Pan slightly to frame the redheaded maybe-copy.) * [Table Choco] (sighing) "I bet he misses you too. Bet he’d do just about anything to get to be with his friends again." (He sits down, but only for a few seconds before an idea pops his eyes wide open. A moment later, he is back upright.) * [Choco Cream] "Hey." (smiling hugely, tapping hands together) "Hey!" (calling after Lollipop) "What if you gave them a test? Pick something really hard for a Choco to do, something not fun at all!" (leaning on a table) "Any Choco that can’t do it goes back into the Pond." (Cut to Lollipop and Beeping; he continues o.s.) "But whoever wants to stay the most—that must be the real Choco!" (Only now do girl and talking toy halt their exit, a smile of surprise and inspiration pasting itself on the former’s face.) * [Lollipop Pops] (to Beeping) "You know, that’s not a bad idea." (She glides off and he hurries after her; cut back to the table.) * [Table Choco] "This is great! If I pass, I get to be with my friends again!" (Short, shocked gasp.) "But what if I don’t pass? Oh, what if I’m not the real Choco Cream?" (Loud moan; he bangs his head on the table on each of his next four words.) * [Table Choco] "Stupid magic mirror water! This is all your fault!" (regretfully) "And mine." (He lets his thump onto the broad mushroom cap a fifth time. Dissolve to Lollipop walking slowly through a patch of park land, with Beeping following behind. Vanilla peeks out from an opening between a tree’s roots.) * [Vanilla Cake] (softly) "Hey, Lollipop!" (He ducks back so the two can scramble after him. Inside the tree, they find Sugar, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Cranberry Pup, most of the guests at Sugar's picnic—including the bear—and a few new arrivals.) * [Lollipop Pops] "I’ve been looking all over for you guys! What are you all doing here?" * [Vanilla Cake] "Sugar Pie spoke with the woodland critters, and they’ve agreed to take us into their home ’til the Choco storm dies down." * [Lollipop Pops] "You guys, we’re gonna fix this, and I know exactly how." * [Sugar Pie] "Are we gonna lose our real Choco Cream?" * [Lollipop Pops] "I don’t think so." (leading marea toward exit) "Now come along. I’ve already got Blueberry Jam and Mother Earthly's kids rounding up all the Chocos." (Wipe to a patch of grassland, which is soon taken over by a massed charge of redheaded and very loud young boys. Blueberry, Blue A., Pink P., and Red U. are at the back of the throng, running like mad.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Hyah, you Chocos!" (diving ahead) "Hyah!" (He pulls up toward one.) * [Stampede Choco] "Ooh, they want to play chase! This is fun too!" (He is at the outer edge of the unlikely herd, but a solid nudge from Blueberry pushes him back in; Blue A. does the same to one on the opposite side. The mass of copied and re-copied ponies barrels over a bridge spanning the Jupiter Town stream and toward the town hall. As Blueberry and Mother drive them from the rear, Red U. and Pink P. race ahead and get the doors open just in time; Blueberry follows them in.) * [Blueberry Jam] (exasperated) "Oh, give it a rest." (The equines knock the doors shut with their heads. Inside, Lollipop stands on a curtained stage to address the unruly bunch, accompanied by Beeping.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Welcome, Chocos, welcome! Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable." (No effect.) "Okay, I suppose you can’t be comfortable staying in one place, but have a seat anyway." (Still nothing; now the din works her last good nerve for several very long seconds.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Sit...DOWN!!" (They freeze in mid-bounce/caper/frolic and drop onto their haunches in wide-eyed ranks.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Better. Now I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today." (Puzzled looks among the group.) * [A Choco] (shrugging) "For fun?" * [Lollipop Pops] (smugly) "No, just the opposite, actually." (Sound of door bursting open.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Wait up!" (Cut to him, flying in and carrying a dejected stray.) "I-I got one more! Found this one poking at the ground with his hand, drawing frowny faces." * [Lollipop Pops] "Have him come sit with the others." (Hovering above the crowd, the daredevil in white dumps his charge into them.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Chocos, you’ve been brought here to take a test." * [Chocos] (petulantly) "Awwwww…" (Several slump over or clap hands to faces.) * [Lollipop Pops] (crossing stage) "Don’t worry. It’s a simple test, about as simple as they come. And whoever passes gets to stay." (Shrugs and murmurs of assent greet this announcement.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Curtain, please!" (Beeping yanks a rope, hauling up the curtain to expose a large panel of drywall or plywood, freshly painted purple. Sugar and Cinnamon are here as well, the brushes in their hands giving away their part in this scheme; after touching up a few last spots, they step behind the panel.) * [Lollipop Pops] "The test…" (It is wheeled forward.) "…will be watching paint dry!" (Terrified gasps from the test-takers.) "On your mark, get set, go!" (Every pair of large blue eyes trains itself on the oozing pigment; cut to Beeping, now perched on a stool onstage with a bag of popcorn.) * [Beeping Bot] "Oh, this is so exciting!" (As he starts to chow down, a dissolve shows him now slumped across the stool on his back, holding the empty bag, and one blink away from falling into a coma out of sheer boredom.) * [Beeping Bot] "Okay, maybe not that exciting." (Tipping the bag, he gets one last kernel to fall out, but it just bounces off his face. The Chocos, meanwhile, are still gazing intently at the slowly drying panel in complete silence. At the back of the room, Blueberry and Vanilla are having just as little fun, the latter checking a wristwatch on one wrist. Pan from them to the nearest rows of Chocos, one of whom starts to scratch nervously at the back of his head. A bird flits down to a tree branch visible through a nearby window, drawing hid attention.) * [Choco Clone 1] "Oh, hey, look at the birdie!" (Lollipop hits him with a spell that causes her to inflate like a balloon with frightening speed, leaving only his arms and legs untouched. The pumped-up Choco then shrinks away to nothing, becoming a swirl of magic that streaks away. A series of cuts shows it flowing out the window, into the Pine Woods, and back down the cavern into the Mirror Pool.) (Back at the test site, another Choco loses focus.) * [Choco Clone 2] (to another) "Watch me bounce to touch the ceiling!" (He curls himself into a ball, hits the floor rump first, and shoots upward as if he were a rubber ball. The nearest Choco shifts his eyes to follow this stunt and is unceremoniously zapped away, and the bouncer gets the same treatment before he can make it all the way to the ceiling. Both of them disappear without inflating, however. A frog’s ribbit catches another one by surprise; he looks toward the sound.) * [Choco Clone 3] "Is that..." (Cut to just outside an upper-story window. The orange-frog Lollipop made by mistake in the prologue sits on the porch here.) * [Choco Clone 3] "…is that a frog crossed with an orange?" (Two more Chocos peek out.) * [Choco Clone 4] "Cool!" * [Choco Clone 5] "Where?" (All three are magically put out of the joint; inside, one Choco holds up a hand for his neighbor to see.) * [Choco Clone 6] "Look what I can do with my hand!" (He blows on the other one as if trying to inflate a balloon, and the one he held up responds by sprouting four stubby little fingers. The onlooker Choco recoils slightly at the sight, but gets no further before Lollipop's spell inflates and banishes them both. Another one addresses his nearest counterpart next.) * [Choco Clone 7] "Bet you can’t make a face crazier than…THIS!" (As he says this, he briefly lowers his head away from the camera and scrubs at it with his hands as if getting ready to do an impression. On “this,”, he turns back to reveal that he has re-shaped and rearranged the features of his entire head to resemble the character Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls. Both he and his flabbergasted neighbor get dispelled for this. Onstage, Lollipop blasts her horn this way and that, while Sugar covers her eyes and Cinnamon fans a hand before her own face in shock. Both have put away their paintbrushes. When she finally stops firing, the appendage has gone red-hot and has smoke rising from the tip; she blows upward to cool it down, then looks out over the room.) (Throughout this entire sequence, the crowd has steadily become more sparse, and a longer shot reveals that there are only two Chocos left. Beeping has fallen asleep and tumbled off his stool. Dissolve to a close-up of one grimacing pale face…then the dripping painted panel…then the other determined visage…then to Lollipop, Sugar, and Cinnamon …then an extreme close-up of one pair of large blue eyes and the sweat dribbling down past them...then a long shot of the room, with Blueberry and Vanilla still watching from the back. The brown-haired boy is first to break the silence with a frustrated groan.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I can’t take it anymore!" (He flies up and points out the window.) "Someone’s making balloon animals!" (The Choco on the left looks around.) * [Left Choco] "What? Where?" (Cut to outside the window; the sound of one last spell is heard, and the brown energy that used to be this duplicate is on its way back to the Mirror Pool. Inside, Lollipop and Cinnamon smile at having reached the end of this trial, but Sugar registers some surprise; cut to the last survivor, still staring ahead with all the concentration he can muster.) * [Lollipop Pops] (from o.s.) "Choco..." (Cut to frame both.) "…you can look away now." (Choco snaps back to himself and does so.) * [Choco Cream] "I passed?" * [Lollipop Pops] "You passed. You’re the only Choco who kept staring at the wall." * [Choco Cream] (as Blueberry, Vanilla, Beeping gather around) "I had to. I just had to. I couldn’t leave my family. I just couldn’t!" (Cut to a pan across said family; he continues o.s.) "But I guess sometimes I will have to choose between them." * [Lollipop Pops] "Knew you’d be up to the challenge." (Choco straightens up and looks himself over.) * [Choco Cream] "I’m me! I’m me!" (jumping most of the way to the ceiling) "I’m me!" (As soon as he hits the ground, anxiety takes root under the orange hair.) * [Choco Cream] "Or am I?" (A few pokes at his face are enough to bring a smile back to it.) * [Choco Cream] "Yeah, I’m pretty sure I am." (The smile turns into a huge grin. Dissolve to the exterior of the town restaurant and zoom in slowly.) * [Lollipop Pops] (from o.s.) "Hi, Choco Cream." (Longer shot; the rest of the gang has come with her.) "We were thinking we should go out and celebrate." * [Blueberry Jam] "You up for some wheelbarrow races?" * [Vanilla Cake] "Or I could take everyone on a cloud ride!" * [Cinnamon Buns] "I could throw a party with punch and zesty cucumber sandwiches!" (flailing arms excitedly) "Ooh!" * [Choco Cream] (backing slowly through door, a bit woozily) "You want to know exactly what I feel like doing right now?" (He finishes the thought by flopping onto his back, letting off a contented sigh, and going instantly to sleep. One leg twitches in time with his loud snoring, and the camera cuts to a point just above the exhausted boy's head and tilts up to frame the others staring incredulously in at him The cavalcade of not-Chocos has done the seemingly impossible and caused the real one to run completely out of steam.) * [Sugar Pie] "That looks like fun." (Laughs and smiles from the others.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Oh, Choco..." (Lollipop closes the door gently with her magic, and the view fades to black.) End of episode